Judge: No bond for Va. Beach woman charged with murder

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) -- A judge denied bond for 21-year-old Breanna Sullivan, who is charged with 2nd-degree murder in connection to a deadly shooting that took place Sunday.

Dispatchers received a report of someone with a gunshot wound in the 700 block of Huybert Pl. just before 7:15 p.m.

Officers arrived and found a man who had died. They took Sullivan into custody.

Sullivan spoke only to 13News Now from jail. She said she and her husband got into an argument that escalated. She claimed he threatened to kill her, so she shot him.

"He stepped towards me with his fists up saying he was going to kill me. I pulled my gun and I shot him," she said.

Sullivan said she was left with no choice but to pull the trigger. She was convinced he would go through with killing her.

"There was nothing stopping him from putting his hand around my neck and snapping it just like that."

Sullivan told 13News Now her husband had been arrested at least three times for hitting her, but she dropped the charges. The beatings became so violent, Sullivan said she knew he was capable of killing her.

"Even though he was not technically armed with a weapon, the fact that he has choked me until I passed out in the past, he has actually given me concussions, I slammed my head against the wall, and the fact that he did at one point take a knife and put it against my throat; there wasn't an option for me to not use a weapon and still be able to come out of it safe," she said.

Now charged with 2nd-degree murder, Sullivan believes she has a good case for self-defense.

"What I wish is that I hadn't had to do it. However, in the moment I did what I needed to do for my safety."

She hopes her story can be a wake-up call for others suffering from domestic violence.

"Unless it's absolutely required, you don't use deadly force. But in that situation when he says he's going to kill you and you believe him, it's okay to defend yourself," she said.

Their three-year-old daughter witnessed the shooting. She is now staying with family members.

Murder suspect Breanna Sullivan speaks to #13newsnow from jail. She says her husband threatened to kill her before she shot him